# Will Israel destroy Hamas **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** israel-hamas-war\ **Created:** [October 8, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277 "2023-10-08T15:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/401 "2023-10-14T06:21:26Z")
> **['Top secret' Hamas documents show that terrorists intentionally targeted...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/top-secret-hamas-documents-show-terrorists-intentionally-targeted-elem-rcna120310)** > > Maps and documents recovered from the bodies of Hamas attackers reveal a coordinated plan to target children and take hostages inside an Israeli village near Gaza. _Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad, to “kill as many people as possible,” seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip._ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/402 "2023-10-14T11:10:43Z")
NPR aired a story yesterday about the Gaza evacuation. It’s worth listening to (or reading the transcript), as it puts faces on the people trying to evacuate. > **[What we know about the northern Gaza evacuation ordered by Israel's military](https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205857050/what-we-know-about-the-northern-gaza-evacuation-ordered-by-israels-military)** > > Israel has told the population of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south because of impending military activity. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/403 "2023-10-14T12:34:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Imagine a mexican drug cartel going into Texas, killing about 1000 Americans, wounding another couple thousand, and adding rape, looting and kidnapping. America would go apeshit, and rightly so. Not analagous, unless the mexican drug cartel was the terrorist arm of an area government which had been oppressed by the US for decades and had the zeal of a holy war against infidels, which frankly is not the case in drug cartels I know anything about. False equivalencies are not any path to understanding. Understanding is useful. You don’t have to be sympathetic in order to want to comprehend the reality. For the record, I am not sympathetic to Israel’s oppressive actions nor am I sympathetic toward Hamas in any way at all. This tragedy has no white hats. Just a lot of innocent deaths, with many more to come. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/404 "2023-10-14T16:04:46Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Apologies if I’m just missing it, but was it in this thread? Either way though, why make such a statement, and flood northern Gaza with leaflets announcing residents have 24 hours to evacuate if they understand the impossibility of such a task? It is still causing panic, is going to lead to preventable deaths, and leaves them with nowhere safe to actually flee to, just the southern half of the Gaza Strip, which is still under bombardment, the Egyptian-Gazan crossing is closed due to Israeli bombing of the crossing, and no basic human necessities are allowed in. They are being sent to the south end of Gaza because that’s an area that’s not as built up. If that’s where the civilians are Israel can engage in the very deadly urban combat with Hamas with a lot less civilian casualties. This is to me a _good thing_. The fewer civilians die, the better. If there’s a specific place where the bulk of the fighting will occur, and where it will be hardest to prevent damage to people you aren’t targeting, doesn’t it make sense to do what you can to empty out that area of civilians? > [@Dissonance](#): > > Ok, ignoring this declaration of 24 hours to flee for a moment, what are your thoughts on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declaring, “We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.” with no effort to distinguish between Hamas militants and the civilians in Gaza? I think that’s a nasty turn of phrase that no government official has any business using. I think it was harmful for him to use that phrase. > [@Dissonance](#): > > And your thoughts on Hagari’s statement when ‘Pressed by reporters on whether the army would protect hospitals, U.N. shelters and other civilian locations, Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, warned that “it’s a war zone.”’ Not even a statement that Israel will respect the non-combatant status of said locations as long as Hamas does (which they of course certainly won’t) but simply dismiss any very valid concerns about them by saying “it’s a war zone.” I linked the source of those comments earlier. Hagari was being pressed by reporters, he told them multiple times that Israel is fighting Hamas and not the Palestinians and that it will make every effort to protect innocent lives. He then did say the line you quoted here. I used that as an example of something I’ve seen quite often - misleading translations or out of conntext statements used to paint people as saying something different than they actually did. That same interview was where he told a reporter that the IDF does understand that the evacuation will take time, for example; but that is never what is quoted. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Seriously, when you and I were arguing against the absurdity of Israel conducting an ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip the other day, did you imagine telling half of the population of the Gaza Strip they had 24 hours to flee to the other half was in the realms of actions Israel would actually undertake? No, because I didn’t think Israel would be willing to wait as long as they have before beginning a ground invasion. Depending on how many civilians actually leave Gaza, this strategy could very well save many Palestinian civilians compared to strategies I thought were on the table (namely a ground invasion days ago). ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/405 "2023-10-14T16:43:25Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I am not sympathetic to Israel’s oppressive actions nor am I sympathetic toward Hamas in any way at all. This tragedy has no white hats. Just a lot of innocent deaths, with many more to come. Yes, this. The whole thing is awful. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/406 "2023-10-15T00:17:36Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I’m sorry, does anyone really expect people living under what they understand as Israeli oppression to make a distinction between soldier & civilian, Israeli & guest of Israel, adult & child, once they get loose? Is this a real question? because the answer is very fucking obviously yes. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/407 "2023-10-15T01:24:40Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > This is to me a _good thing_. I _might_ agree with you if 1) Israel had established humanitarian safe corridors to allow the evacuation - something that’s only been tossed around as an idea after the 24-hour deadline they ‘didn’t really mean’ even though it’s what was printed on the leaflets dropped all over the city and apparently aren’t actually at all safe. 2) if the entire population wasn’t being subjected to being cut off from food, water, electricity, and medical supplies and 3) if Israel wasn’t shrugging off humanitarian concerns with the comment “it’s a war zone”. Even with all those caveats, again, there is nowhere to shelter these 1,000,000 people being put to flight to the southern Gaza Strip, the sanitation situation alone is going to result in easily preventable deaths, since, as a reminder, there is no electricity or running water, to say nothing of potable water. > [@Babale](#): > > I linked the source of those comments earlier. Hagari was being pressed by reporters, he told them multiple times that Israel is fighting Hamas and not the Palestinians and that it will make every effort to protect innocent lives. He then did say the line you quoted here. I used that as an example of something I’ve seen quite often - misleading translations or out of conntext statements used to paint people as saying something different than they actually did. That same interview was where he told a reporter that the IDF does understand that the evacuation will take time, for example; but that is never what is quoted. Again, where did you quote this? I’m not finding it in this thread. I’m not saying it’s not the case, but I’d like to give it a read myself. Again, my apologies if I’m just missing it, but I don’t see it in this thread. Regardless, they are very clearly **not** making every effort to spare innocent lives, as the hospitals, UN refugee shelters and other civilian locations that Hagari brushed off with the “it’s a warzone” comment clearly isn’t just an example of a mistranslation whether it was mistranslated at the press conference or not: > **[Gaza: Forcing patients to flee hospitals a ‘death sentence’ warns WHO](https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142347)** > > The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza. Bolding mine: > The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) issued an urgent call on Saturday for Israeli Authorities to protect all civilians sheltering in Gaza. > > The statement came as the Israeli-imposed deadline for some 1.1 million civilians to leave the northern part of the enclave, ahead of what is expected to be a major advance into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, expired. > > **“UNRWA shelters in Gaza and northern Gaza are no longer safe. This is unprecedented,” said the statement.** > > **The agency reminded that according to the rules of warfare, civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and United Nations premises cannot be a target.** > > “UNRWA is sparing no efforts to advocate with parties to the conflicts to meet their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including those seeking refuge in UNRWA shelters,” the agency emphasized. > > UNRWA pointed out that many of the vulnerable, particularly pregnant women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities simply will be unable to flee south. > > “They have no choice and must be protected at all times.” > > UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that with water supplies running dry due to Israel cutting off all utilities to Gaza, “it has become a matter of life and death”. > > “It is a must. Fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for two million people”, he said. > > **The World Health Organization ([WHO](http://www.who.int/en/)) [on Saturday strongly condemned](https://www.emro.who.int/media/news/evacuation-orders-by-israel-to-hospitals-in-northern-gaza-are-a-death-sentence-for-the-sick-and-injured.html) Israel’s repeated order for 22 hospitals in northern Gaza to be evacuated, describing it as a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.** > > With around 2,000 desperately ill patients inside their wards, WHO said the forced evacuation of both patients and health workers “will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.” > > The statement said the lives of those in intensive care or who rely on life support – including newborns in incubators and those needing hemodialysis – now hang in the balance. > > “Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds”, said WHO. > > “Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence.” > > Those running the hospitals now face an agonizing choice, the agency said: either abandon the critically ill, put their own lives at risk by staying amid the bombing, or endanger patients’ lives “while remaining on site to treat patients, or endanger their patients’ lives “while attempting to transport them to facilities that have no capacity to receive them.” > > The agency said that overwhelmingly, staff have chosen to stay behind rather than risk lives by moving those who are critically ill. Mistranslation or not, Israel is very clearly **not** respecting the requirements to protect hospitals, UN shelters and other civilian locations, and is in fact demanding they be evacuated, with no regard for the deaths that will result. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/408 "2023-10-15T02:44:01Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Again, where did you quote this? I’m not finding it in this thread. I’m not saying it’s not the case, but I’d like to give it a read myself. Again, my apologies if I’m just missing it, but I don’t see it in this thread. > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/184): > > Israel does not expect the evacuation of Gaza to take 24 hours, claims of a deadline are misleading: > > [https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog\_entry/idf-trying-to-minimize-harm-to-gazan-civilians-spokesman-says/](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-trying-to-minimize-harm-to-gazan-civilians-spokesman-says/) > > > [@](#): > > > > We are fighting a terror group, not the Gazan population. We want civilians not to be harmed, but we cannot live with the rule of Hamas-ISIS\* near our border > > > [@](#): > > > > “Hamas carried out one of the most horrific acts the world has seen, we are carrying out an effort to evacuate residents in order to deepen the damage, to collapse this organization,” Hagari says. > > > > After the UN says such an evacuation within 24 hours would be impossible, Hagari says, “We understand it will take several days.” ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/410 "2023-10-18T00:55:55Z")
Making every effort to spare innocent lives: > **[Gaza civilians afraid to leave home after bombing of ‘safe routes’](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/14/gaza-civilians-afraid-to-leave-home-after-bombing-of-safe-routes)** > > Analysis of aerial photos and social media posts confirms attack on road identified as safe by Israeli army > **[They followed evacuation orders. An Israeli airstrike killed them the next...](https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/16/middleeast/israel-palestinian-evacuation-orders-invs/index.html)** > > When Palestinians in north Gaza heeded the warnings issued in the Israeli military’s phone calls, text messages, and fliers advising them to head south, they thought they were fleeing to potential safety. > **[After blast kills hundreds at Gaza hospital, Hamas and Israel trade blame as...](https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-war-biden-rafah-e062825a375d9eb62e95509cab95b80c)** > > A massive blast hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing hundreds of people, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. > **[Aid still unreachable after Israel bombs region where civilians were told to...](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/aid-still-unreachable-after-israel-bombs-region-where-civilians-were-told-to-flee)** > > Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 2,778 people and wounded 9,700, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly two-thirds of those killed were children, a ministry official said. > **[Watch: Explosion at Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-67128770)** > > CCTV footage appears to show the moment an airstrike hits the Rafah crossing area between Gaza and Egypt. > **[Israel said to bomb Rafah crossing to Egypt after telling Gazans to flee...](https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-bomb-rafah-crossing-to-egypt-after-telling-gazans-to-flee-through-it/)** > > Army distances itself from comments by military spokesman, says it hit underground tunnel in area; exit was briefly open Tuesday, but only for those with prior authorization I am frankly disguised by Israel’s conduct thus far. It’s only going to get worse in the coming days as Israel’s refusal to allow food, water, medical supplies, electricity and fuel into the Gaza Strip starts killing people. Going back to the OP, I’m not sure if it’s even going to matter if Hamas is destroyed. I’m finding it hard to see how any hope for peace hasn’t already been poisoned for another generation. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/411 "2023-10-18T01:25:25Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’m finding it hard to see how any hope for peace hasn’t already been poisoned for another generation. That’s exactly what the hardliner Israelis are saying about Hamas’ actions. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/412 "2023-10-18T01:32:17Z")
I mean, it’s not like the practice of hope-poisoning is limited to any one set of participants. Two wrongs don’t make a right. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/413 "2023-10-18T01:38:29Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > > [@Dissonance](#): > > > > I’m finding it hard to see how any hope for peace hasn’t already been poisoned for another generation. > > That’s exactly what the hardliner Israelis are saying about Hamas’ actions. You mean the ones who are actually calling for ethnic cleansing? The thing we agreed upon the other week was something out of the question for a civilized nation like Israel to do? > **[Israeli minister: Gaza 'must be smaller at the end of the war'](https://forward.com/fast-forward/564999/israeli-minister-gaza-must-be-smaller-saar/#:~:text=Gaza%20%E2%80%9Cmust%20be%20smaller%20at,against%20Israel%20must%20lose%20territory.%E2%80%9D)** > > "Whoever starts a war against Israel must lose territory," Israeli Minister Gideon Sa'ar told Israel Channel 12 News. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/414 "2023-10-18T01:55:32Z")
Hmmm. In the first place, IANAL but I thought that the annexation of territory from a defeated enemy state was prohibited by international law. In the second place, it can be a bit mind-boggling how references to Palestinians often seem to present them as inhabiting a sort of “Schrödinger’s state” that does or does not count as an actual country, depending on the rhetorical intent. If it’s truly “their” territory to the extent that they can be expected to officially forfeit it by being defeated in war, how is it not “their” territory to the extent that Israeli settlements aren’t allowed to expand into it when not at war? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/415 "2023-10-18T03:25:18Z")
Oh wait, it seems I was wrong. Stop believing your lying eyes, the UN, WHO, Doctors Without Borders, the UK government, the rest of the world’s governments, etc. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. > **[Humanitarian crisis in Gaza is 'looming', says government minister](https://news.sky.com/story/humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza-is-looming-says-government-minister-12986054)** > > It comes after Israel's ambassador to the UK claimed on Sky News that there was "no humanitarian crisis in Gaza" - despite the UN warning its operations in the area were on the "verge of collapse". > It comes after Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, claimed on Sky News yesterday that there was “no humanitarian crisis in Gaza”. > **[Israeli Ambassador To U.K. Says There's 'No Humanitarian Crisis' In Gaza](https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-ambassador-u-k-says-145031385.html)** > > The Palestinian territory is currently under siege. > When asked what her country thinks about the[humanitarian crisis](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/gaza-reality-life-israel-palestine_uk_652663b5e4b09f4b8d4257d0)emerging in Gaza on Sky News, Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., Tzipi Hotovely, said: “There is no humanitarian crisis.” > > Sky News host Kay Burley told Hotovely that the channel has been showing photos demonstrating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. > > “Are you a mother?” the ambassador replied. “What would you think if your children would have been executed in front of your eyes? > > “Would you expect your government to think about those Nazis committing those crimes and to say, ’Wait a second — first of all we need to protect the enemy, and then we need to protect our children.′ > … > Back on Sky News. when Burley mentioned the crisis again, Hotovely said: “Blame Hamas. And ask Hamas why they started those atrocities.” > > As the news anchor asked once more if Hotovely was acknowledging that there was a humanitarian crisis, the ambassador maintained that there is not. > > Burley asked: “So what do you think is happening?” > > The Israeli representative replied: “There is a war in Gaza, a war that Hamas started by committing horrible massacre on innocent Israelis.” ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/416 "2023-10-18T12:41:39Z")
Your first article makes no determination _who_ bombed the safe route: > The warring parties blamed each other for the attack. [Hamas](https://www.theguardian.com/world/hamas), the militant group in control of the Gaza Strip, said it had been carried out by Israel. In a briefing on Sunday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denied Israeli munitions had hit the convoy. Nor the third: > Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants. Two and four are simply saying that Israel is still bombing the south part of the region. I don’t see anything to suggest that Israel said they wouldn’t, simply that it’s safer there which as far as I can tell is still true. Five and six are the same incident, in which Israel warned the people there before the strike: > The bombing occurred a few minutes after a warning was conveyed by the Israeli military to Gazan officials operating it. > According to the Associated Press, the Egyptians administering the crossing warned the crews on the Palestinian side to evacuate immediately due to threats of airstrikes Your cites are not the dunk you think they are. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/417 "2023-10-18T12:57:27Z")
I have little doubt that the Israeli government would bomb a hospital if it served their interests more than it went against them. Tolerable bad PR and major Hamas operations set up there for example. And I have even less doubt that Hamas would. Causing the damage to Palestinians that they can blame on Israel to make them seem like victims. Justifying their actions. The narrative this whole atrocity was done to create. Right now I think it serves Hamas interests and not Israeli interests so I suspect it is at their hands. Don’t know though. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/418 "2023-10-18T13:01:42Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Right now I think it serves Hamas interests and not Israeli interests so I suspect it is at their hands. > > Don’t know though. Unless Hamas has magic rockets that can radically change direction in midair, or Israel has invisible rockets, then we know it was neither - it was an accident, due to a rocket fired at Israel probably by IJP (Islamic Jihad Palestine) that went off courses ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/419 "2023-10-18T13:16:23Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I have little doubt that the Israeli government would bomb a hospital if it served their interests more than it went against them. Tolerable bad PR and major Hamas operations set up there for example. And Hamas operations set up in a hospital makes it a legitimate military target, and legal under any theory of Law of War. It is well known that Hamas does operate out of civilian buildings, including hospitals, so “Israel bombed a hospital” would not even be surprising. It only becomes news if “Israel bombed a hospital without reason to think Hamas was there”. Which it’s unfortunately hard to prove. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/420 "2023-10-18T13:56:29Z")
I think it’s much more likely that Hamas intentionally bombed the hospital than that Israel intentionally bombed it with no intelligence at all that Hamas was in there, and even slightly more likely than that Israel bombed it with merely faulty intelligence and Hamas was never in there. Of course it could be neither: it could be an unintentional bombing from one side or the other like the missiles that fell on Poland a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277/421 "2023-10-18T14:42:35Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > And Hamas operations set up in a hospital makes it a legitimate military target, and legal under any theory of Law of War. Do you have a cite for this? Maybe a documented Law of War we could take a look at? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-israel-destroy-hamas/991277.md?page=22)